Dechert Advises on £1.1B (US$1.65B) Acquisition of Liberty Living Group
The Dechert Finance Real Estate team in London advised on the finance aspects of the £1.1 billion (US$1.65 billion) acquisition of the Liberty Living Group by the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board ("CPPIB") which completed yesterday. The acquisition is the first investment in an alternative real estate sector for CPPIB and it is also the largest real estate deal CPPIB has ever done in Europe.
The team was led by long-term adviser to the Liberty Living Group Eleni Skordaki who, together with Sarah Reader, Laura Taylor and Simran Sanghera, provided legal advice as well as transactional direction on the new financing arrangements provided to the acquired group by way of facilities from the Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC as well as under a US$ loan note programme. In 2012, Skordaki advised private student accommodation provider Liberty Living on its comprehensive financing package of £300 (US$451) million, provided jointly by HSBC & Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), consisting of a five-year term loan of £100 million, a five year revolving credit facility (RCF) of £100 million and a US private placement of £US$155 million.
With their detailed knowledge of the third party funding arrangements in place and able to utilise the resources of a specialist and internationally recognised Finance Real Estate team both in London and across the Atlantic, the Dechert team advised on all finance aspects of the acquisition including optimal lending structures, cross-border security matters and interest rate and currency derivatives. Congratulating the principals on completing this important real estate transaction, Skordaki expressed the team's sense of achievement and excitement for Liberty Living's future.
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Dechert is a global specialist law firm focused on sectors with the greatest complexities and highest regulatory demands. We deliver practical commercial insight and judgment to our clients’ most important matters. Nothing stands in the way of giving clients the best of the firm’s entrepreneurial energy and seamless collaboration in a way that is distinctively Dechert.
